Child Sex Crimes Come From Many Walks of Life! Choices, Consequences and Convictions

The US Attorney’s office recently announced two high profile cases involving child pornography and child sex offenses.

First, Metropolitan Police Department Officer, Kenneth Longerbeam, age 39, has pled guilty to traveling to the District of Columbia in order to have sex with a minor in December 2007.

This case tragically illustrates that child predators come from all walks of life, even those sworn to uphold the law” stated U.S. Attorney Taylor. “We must be vigilant in our efforts to protect our children from those who wish to do harm to the most precious, yet vulnerable members of our community.”

“Every member of the Metropolitan Police Department is held to the highest standard of public service. Inherent in every officer’s oath is the promise to protect others. Longerbeam’s actions are contrary to everything the Department stands for, and as a result of his guilty plea I am seeking to suspend him without pay,” said Chief Lanier.

The next portion of this will likely be repulsive to my readers. However, it is necessary in order for parents, and those concerned with the welfare of children, to become aware of the attitudes of child predators. According to the news release:

Longerbeam, the defendant acknowledged that on December 18, 2007, he received a text message from a friend who informed the defendant that he had a boy coming over and that he was going to engage in sex with the child. During the ensuing exchange of text messages, the defendant asked how old the child was and was told that the child was 14 years old. After the defendant’s friend stated that he was going to have sex with the child, the defendant asked whether the boy was “into 3 ways.” When the friend told the defendant that the child was into “3-ways”, the defendant responded: “Kool, when can I join?”

The defendant subsequently traveled from the State of Maryland into the District of Columbia to serve his tour of duty at the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District. When the defendant completed the his tour, he traveled to his friend’s house to have sex with the child. The defendant was arrested by task force members at that time.

The second to be reported here is a guilty plea for possession of child pornography from a former aide to a U.S. Senator. James Michael McHaney, 28, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today before the Honorable Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of Possession of Child Pornography.

According to the government’s evidence, on November 30, 2007, a cooperating witness (“CW”) working in an undercover capacity under the supervision of law enforcement agents, went on-line and observed that “Mike,” previously identified as James “Michael” McHaney, was on-line with the screen name of “lilmikierocks.” The CW and “Mike” had previously met and had exchanged images of child pornography. At approximately 12:15 p.m., the CW initiated contact by saying “Hey, what’s up?” The on-line conversation took place using AOL.

After approximately ten minutes, the CW asked “Mike” whether he was going to be at work all day, to which “Mike” responded that he could take a long lunch. CW asked whether “Mike” was interested in engaging in sex with a 13-year-old boy, and “Mike” replied, “I’ll be there.” “Mike” asked whether the child was at the CW’s residence and agreed to meet the CW and the child there. “Mike” then asked whether the CW had a photograph of the child with whom he and the CW were going to have sex and whether the child had “pubes” (referring to pubic hair). When the CW answered “barely any pubes” and “none under his arms” to the latter question, “Mike” replied that was “hot.” “Mike” also agreed to bring “visual aids” on a flash drive that contained both videos and over 1000 images of child pornography. “Mike” said that his hard drive was at another individual’s house being loaded with more images of child pornography.

At approximately 1:15 p.m., law enforcement officers observed James Michael McHaney at the lobby of the CW’s residence, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., and he was placed under arrest. A search incident to the arrest of the defendant revealed a flash drive which contained in excess of 600 images of child pornography. The majority of the pornographic images were of prepubescent males, which the defendant possessed for his personal use, and to distribute to others. The ages of the children appeared to range from approximately three to five years old to young teens. Among the images were movie files depicting prepubescent male children engaging in sexual acts.

Every choice has a consequence! As a speaker on teen ethics and social networking child protection, it is sick to see what and who child predators are. One would never think that a child predator would be an aid to a U. S. Senator or a police officer, but as evidenced above – child predators can be anyone!

While the two guilty pleas show evidence that law enforcement is vigilant, you know that more crime takes place against children than any would like to admit. However, parents need to take an interest in knowing how the new playground for sexual predators works and how to protect children from those predators.

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